Seriously, Science?http://discovermagazine.com/rss/blog-feeds/seriously-scienceSerious(ly silly) science.http://backend.userland.com/rssFri, 09 Dec 2016 12:00:56 GMTFlashback Friday: The scientifically-proven method for getting your bartender’s attention.http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/?p=5929
We’ve all been there: waiting at the bar, dying for a drink, but unable to catch the bartender’s attention. It’s easy to assume that we are being served (or rather, ignored) by a crappy bartender. But maybe it’s us. Maybe we’re the ones not giving the right signals that say “Beer me! Now!”. This is actually the best-case scenario, because it’s fixable, and these German scientists are here to help (and, eventually, to build a bartending robot). To determine the best way to signal to a bartendFri, 09 Dec 2016 12:00:56 GMThttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/?p=5929http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/files/2013/12/2959426266_d2f7050b24-300x198.jpghttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/files/2013/12/2959426266_d2f7050b24-300x198.jpgHardcore bee species builds its nest in ash by an active volcano(!)http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/?p=5909
Bees can fly anywhere, so you'd think they'd have their choice of places to live. Well, these ground-nesting bees are so hardcore that they chose to live in the ash next to an active volcano. But why? In this paper, the authors attempt to explain why the bees might pick such a hazardous location, which is exposed to "continuous, strongly acidic gas emissions." Their conclusion? "Notwithstanding the extreme nature of the site, and the co-occurrence of specialist natural enemies and predators,Thu, 01 Dec 2016 19:14:01 GMThttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/?p=5909http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/files/2016/11/5127279893_8de7bc35fc_z.jpghttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/files/2016/11/5127279893_8de7bc35fc_z.jpgFlashback Friday: Which sexual fantasies are the most (and least) popular? Science finally weighs in!http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/?p=5913
Sexual fantasies: we all have them, yet many people think they're in the minority when it comes to their own fantasy of choice. Enter these scientists, who took it upon themselves to catalog the most common sexual fantasies in a population of 1,516 people from Quebec, Canada. Turns out that very few fantasies are truly rare; the rest are primarily ranked as "common", while a few are so common as to be "typical" (e.g., "receiving oral sex"). Curious where you rank on the list? See below for Thu, 01 Dec 2016 12:00:59 GMThttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/?p=5913http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/files/2014/11/12139927934_7295600659_z-232x300.jpghttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/files/2014/11/12139927934_7295600659_z-232x300.jpgScientists finally figure out why whales like to jump out of the water.http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/?p=5904
Even if you've never gone whale-watching or made it all the way through Moby Dick, you probably know that humpback whales are known for jumping out of the water and slapping the surface with their fins. But why whales engage in these "surface-active behaviors" has long remained a mystery... until now! These scientists watched 94 different groups of whales to discover that loud noises made by jumping and slapping the water may actually play a role in communication between nearby groups of whaTue, 29 Nov 2016 12:00:25 GMThttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/?p=5904http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/files/2016/11/9664085580_3b5c919637_z-e1480386055836.jpghttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/files/2016/11/9664085580_3b5c919637_z-e1480386055836.jpgSorry parents, study shows you don't know when your kids are lying.http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/?p=5900
Like all parents, I like to believe I know my daughter better than anyone on earth. But, at least according to this study, that doesn't mean I know her well enough to tell when she's lying. Here, researchers filmed groups of children lying or telling the truth, and had various groups of adults judge whether they were fibbing. It turns out that no group of adults, even the children's parents, were able to do better than they would by random guessing. Kids poker tournament, anyone?
Can pareTue, 22 Nov 2016 21:20:31 GMThttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/?p=5900http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/files/2016/11/3409975634_8c1e35b584_z.jpghttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/files/2016/11/3409975634_8c1e35b584_z.jpgFlashback Friday: Why is sitting by a fire so relaxing? Evolution may hold the key.http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/?p=5898
When it's cold outside, there's nothing quite like sitting by a cozy fire. But why do we find this experience so comforting? According to the author of this study, this relaxation response to fire is actually an evolutionary adaptation. The author argues that early humans who were more prone to relaxation at a campfire would be more likely to "benefit in the social milieu via fireside interactions", thereby giving them a survival advantage. He then goes on to experimentally demonstrate that Fri, 18 Nov 2016 12:00:36 GMThttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/?p=5898http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/files/2014/11/8608867490_f16030b812_z-300x200.jpghttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/files/2014/11/8608867490_f16030b812_z-300x200.jpgScientists discover the fastest bats ever recorded, and they are faster than any bird.http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/?p=5891
When it comes to fast flying animals, our minds naturally turn to the birds. But it turns out that, just like birds, some bats fly quickly while others mosey about. Here, scientists employed planes to track the flights of 7 bats (T. brasiliensis), and came away with a new flight record for speed:
We tracked a total of seven bats, one bat per night, from the air between 8 July and 15 July 2009. For this, one person (M.W.) flew with a Cessna 172 from Garner Field Airport, Uvalde, Texas, towWed, 16 Nov 2016 12:00:27 GMThttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/?p=5891http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/files/2016/11/Mexican_free-tailed_bats_9415985486-764x1024.jpghttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/files/2016/11/Mexican_free-tailed_bats_9415985486-764x1024.jpgThe longer you're on Reddit, the worse your comments get.http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/?p=5883
How can you turn your Reddit obsession into a legitimate pastime? Well, one way is to conduct a scientific study! These researchers analyzed more than 55 million Reddit comments, segmented by users' posting activity during a single "session." The authors conclude that when a user posts a series of comments in a short period of time, the quality of the comments begins to deteriorate - in other words, they become shorter, less complex, and receive lower ratings. The authors conclude that "futuTue, 15 Nov 2016 16:34:39 GMThttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/?p=5883http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/files/2016/11/5373996658_c656fabe0e_z.jpghttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/files/2016/11/5373996658_c656fabe0e_z.jpgFlashback Friday: What are dogs saying by wagging their tails? The language of left and right wags.http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/?p=5867
It has already been shown that dogs wag their tails asymmetrically when presented with different stimuli, and other dogs seem to behave differently when viewing left vs. right wags of robot tails . But do dogs actually have different emotional responses to viewing left vs. right-wagging dogs? To investigate this, several Italian scientists hooked dogs up to heart monitors and showed them movies of other dogs, some wagging to the left, and others wagging to the right. Interestingly, viewing dFri, 11 Nov 2016 12:00:19 GMThttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/?p=5867http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/files/2013/11/6985429801_31b825e3cd-216x300.jpghttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/files/2013/11/6985429801_31b825e3cd-216x300.jpgHow many notches on your bedpost make you most attractive? The answer might surprise you.http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/?p=5871
Can too much sexual experience make someone unattractive? That's what these scientists set out to determine using an online survey. They asked men and women whether they'd be willing to get involved in relationships with people who had different numbers of past sexual partners. As you can see from the graph below, when it comes to short-term sexual relationships, men had more tolerance than women for an experienced partner: attractiveness levels drop at around 10 partners for men assessing pThu, 10 Nov 2016 17:41:04 GMThttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/?p=5871http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/files/2016/11/26444149970_fba1261169_z-300x199.jpghttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/files/2016/11/26444149970_fba1261169_z-300x199.jpgKoalas hug trees to beat the heat.http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/?p=5863
Koalas are well known for their fuzzy ears, cute noses, eucalyptus diet, and of course their penchant for hugging trees. According to these scientists, this behavior does more than just keep the koalas from falling out of the tree. By tracking the position of koalas over many days, they found that on the hottest days, koalas snuggle up on trees with low internal temperatures. They calculate that this behavior significantly reduces the koala's need to cool off by sweating. How cool is that?
Mon, 07 Nov 2016 12:00:01 GMThttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/?p=5863http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/files/2016/11/why-koalas-hug-trees-274x300.pnghttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/files/2016/11/why-koalas-hug-trees-274x300.pngFlashback Friday: Ever wonder why someone becomes a Republican? (Hint: it's disgusting.)http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/?p=5861
Previous studies have hinted that our political views may stem from unconscious responses we have to intense stimuli, like disgusting pictures. To directly test this hypothesis, these scientists scanned people's brains while showing them regular or disgusting images (be sure to check out the horrifying list below...if you dare). It turns out that the brain's response to disgusting images could accurately predict whether a person is liberal or conservative. But, even more surprisingly, the suFri, 04 Nov 2016 11:00:29 GMThttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/?p=5861http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/files/2014/11/2569536575_91073f792a_z-300x300.jpghttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/files/2014/11/2569536575_91073f792a_z-300x300.jpgWant to perform better at sports? Just remember you're going to die.http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/?p=5850
The Cleveland Indians' performance in last night's World Series game might have been improved by the findings of this study. Here, a group of psychology researchers found that reminders of death (e.g., an observer wearing a t-shirt with a skull and the words "death" on it) improved players' performance in basketball. Apparently, this reminder of your own mortality actually serves a purpose in improving self esteem, because "part of the basic human motivation to participate in culture and purThu, 03 Nov 2016 11:00:10 GMThttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/?p=5850http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/files/2016/10/10157989974_afc6d58190_z.jpghttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/files/2016/10/10157989974_afc6d58190_z.jpgKittens recognize their own mother's voice.http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/?p=5841
Kittens! Who doesn't love kittens? (Um, nobody!) But who do kittens love? Well, if they are anything like human babies, they love their mommies. And this study indicates that they recognize their mother's calls and can even distinguish them from the calls of other mommy cats. The researchers conclude that kittens learn their mother's meows and chirps in the nest, and that these vocalizations represent a specialized form of communication. Forget baby talk--give me kitten talk any day!
MothTue, 01 Nov 2016 11:00:13 GMThttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/?p=5841http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/files/2016/10/2938134470_c807dc3e47_z.jpghttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/files/2016/10/2938134470_c807dc3e47_z.jpgHalloween flashback: The strange case of the "vampire" burial in Venice.http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/?p=5847In 2006 in Venice, Italy, archaeologists excavating a plague cemetery found something quite unusual: a skeleton with a brick in its mouth. They determined that the brick was likely placed there after death, and they later developed a hypothesis about how the brick got there (spoiler alert: it involves vampires). Be sure to read the excerpt from the full text below for all the gory details.
Forensic approach to an archaeological casework of “vampire” skeletal remains in Venice: odontological Mon, 31 Oct 2016 11:00:21 GMThttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/?p=5847http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/files/2014/04/vampire.gifhttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/files/2014/04/vampire.gifFlashback Friday: Is the “bagel head” body modification dangerous? Probably not, but it will freak you out.http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/?p=5838
Last year, the internet went wild over the “bagel head” body modification that was apparently popular in Tokyo. As it takes a while for science to catch up (thanks, in part, to peer review!), the first research article about the “bagel head” was just recently published. Along with using some of the original pictures that went viral (the photographer collaborated with the authors), this paper discusses possible complications that may arise. Apparently, it’s not really likely to cause any healFri, 28 Oct 2016 16:54:22 GMThttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/?p=5838http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/files/2013/10/dp0303a02g002-217x300.jpghttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/files/2013/10/dp0303a02g002-217x300.jpgA ball of dough can "learn." What's Donald Trump's excuse?http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/?p=5824This study definitely falls squarely into our "WTF" category. These researchers set out to determine whether a ball of electroconductive dough (basically flour, water, table salt, vegetable oil, and lemon juice) can be "conditioned" to respond to a stimulus. They hooked up the doughball to jumper cables and exposed it to flashes of LED light paired closely in time with a current. After this training, they then exposed the dough to light with no current, and found that its spectral density resembFri, 28 Oct 2016 01:02:08 GMThttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/?p=5824http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/files/2016/10/journal.pone_.0165269.g001-2.pnghttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/files/2016/10/journal.pone_.0165269.g001-2.pngStudy finds that obese women have more sex.http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/?p=5819
How much sex a person has is the result of many factors... but are there any that seem more important? To find out, these researchers collected data from 254 women in their thirties, asking them about their personal and physical lives. It turns out that over 40% of the women sampled had sex at least twice a week, and that obese women were more likely to have sex at least three times a week. I guess they really don't call it the "dirty thirties" for nothing!
Factors Related to Coital FreqMon, 24 Oct 2016 11:00:03 GMThttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/?p=5819http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/files/2016/10/5985128393_17af65291e_z.jpghttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/files/2016/10/5985128393_17af65291e_z.jpgFlashback Friday: Why do wet things feel wet?http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/?p=5817
At first glance, this may seem like a completely moronic question. I mean, wet stuff feels wet because... well, it's wet. Duh! But when you stop to think more deeply about it it, it quickly becomes a very profound question. That's because, unlike heat or touch, we don't have any sensors in our skin capable of directly detecting wetness. Therefore, scientists believe that we rely on other senses, like temperature or touch, to indirectly sense when something is wet. To test this idea, scientisFri, 21 Oct 2016 14:43:22 GMThttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/?p=5817http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/files/2014/10/7160308728_d2f8b8e357_z-300x251.jpghttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/files/2014/10/7160308728_d2f8b8e357_z-300x251.jpgThe next miracle antibiotic could come from Tasmanian devil milk.http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/?p=5812When it comes to finding novel chemical compounds that act as antibiotics, scientists have to look in increasingly unusual places. Like sloth hair. And now, according to this study, Tasmanian devil milk. Apparently, this milk contains a class of antimicrobial peptides called "cathelicidins" that can even kill the dreaded superbug MRSA. Tasmanian devil milkshake, anyone?
Cathelicidins in the Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii)
"Tasmanian devil joeys, like other marsupials, are born at aThu, 20 Oct 2016 16:06:51 GMThttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/?p=5812http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/files/2016/10/3455815372_f6182aa13c_z.jpghttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/files/2016/10/3455815372_f6182aa13c_z.jpg